The Necromancer
by Xavier Bloodwane
Summary: Xavier Bloodwane is an upcoming Necromancer,and this is his last chance to prove himself,see how his story unfolds...
1. Nightmare Trial

These days, the sky is blackened,death and wicked beasts surround us.

Surviving in these times is a full day task,living in the most unstable,if not chimerical conditions.

To think that these times would occur,because of one single,catastrophic event was a stretch of the imagination.

Times have changed in our glorious kingdom,a once prosperous nation,befouled by the evil creatures of a long continuous war.  
The cataclysmic event called the searing wiping the land of all hope for a brighter day.

On the days before the searing,it was a casual day,distant yells of battle cries in the distance.

It is absolutely true the Charr had always been a plague to the kingdom of Ascalon, every day was a never ending war between us both.

The Charr never rose to considerable strength to pose a dire threat to Ascalon,merely a nuisance to be heard by townsfolk.

Never a day passed where new recruits would pass up an opportunity to crush the insignificant beasts.

Near the end however, the situation seemed hopeless,always seeming to be a struggle between the two forces.

King Adelbern saw this threat,and called upon the strongest of the recruits to join a special force, the Ascalon Vanguard.

I,as a young necromancer at the time trained as hard as any to rid the world of these horrific monstrosities.

Myself,Xavier Bloodwane, trained under a highly regarded necromancer, her name was Kasha Blackblood.

My story is before the searing and my training with Kasha that would eventually change the course of history forever.

"Bloodwane,Xavier"called Devona. "Yes Ma'am!" I answered.

Devona abruptly halted and then turned towards me, eying me the whole way.

I kept my face straight,and stared without faltering concentrating on the trees ahead.

"What a surprise to see you here Bloodwane"she said with a slight smirk.

I sighed at the comment showing a moment of anger.

I was now 20,and I had repeatedly failed the final combat test at the academy.

To most of the instructors I was merely a plague of failure at Nolani.

This year was no different. During the past few years I became increasingly angery at my failures,taking my hostile anger out on younger,more hopeful students.

What I really wanted was to leave this accursed academy,to finally eliminate the Charr threat.

Even as a young student I showed interest in peculiar arts,namely the manipulation of the undead,and the cursing of living souls.

Necromancy is a seldom praised art as most students of this profession become corrupted and only become a heavy burden upon the world.

An outcast at a young age,I worked harder than anyone to become successful.

I did excellent in school and never failed.

However,when I came to the final test,I was always given a very difficult test. Others were given simple tasks,I always failed,always.

"This year will be different,I assure you Ma'am,"I said,more hopefully than I felt.

"You say that every year Bloodwane, and every year you fail and fail again,this will be your last chance.

Now step into the arena." I walked with a lowly trot,trying to subdue to the torment that surely awaited.

As I passed into the arena it suddenly became pitch black,the only light,green shimmering from a nightmarish figure.

Corpses of various beasts,and singed skulls of humans littered the dirt.

My Heart became still,and I could hardly move an inch.

The creature let out a deep stunning scream,that paralyzed me from head to toe.

It charged at me with the speed of a bull,the rage of an infuriated dragon.

Just as the collision was surely prominent,I ducked. The dark phantasm skimmed the top of my head,crashing into the closed gate behind me.

Seeing my opportunity, I quickly concentrated, struggling to remember the words to the ancient incantation of necromancy.

When the incantation was completed I focused on the corpse of a River Skale to receive the magic's effect.

The corpse floated off the ground it's bones tearing the skin of the long dead creature.

The bones realigned on the outside of the fleshy corpse,creating a clawed human-like structure.

The flesh instantly bonded to the new form,leaving the unused flesh on the defiled dirt.

With my bone horror complete,I created precious few more just as the phantasmal beast began to stir out of it's dazed state.

I commanded my small army of bone horrors to attack the nightmare,tearing at its very soul,to eliminate it forever.

I had under-estimated the power of the nightmare,it could destroy one of my minions with one swipe of it's demonic claw.

When another of my minions fell I changed tactics calling upon an even greater curse,for the creature to kill itself.

The incantation called upon a lot of power,it being one of my greatest weapons,but when completed it would be deadly.

I concentrated on the form of the beast,feeling my anger towards it. Several dozens bugs,my parasites flew toward the nightmare.

The bugs clung to the beast with an insidious energy,living on it's life force.

When the Nightmare swung it's claw to destroy one of my minions the parasites drew energy from the beast causing it an immense amount of pain.

My final horror was still tearing at the beast with all it's might,seeing as it could use help,I created several others.

Every time the Nightmare came to destroy one of it's attackers,the parasites would draw more energy,dealing more pain.

Deciding to end this creature once and for all,I called upon my blood magic. It took much energy,and blood from me to power this ending blow,but it was my final chance to finish the beast.

Once my magic was satisfied, the shadows from the slight light melded, forming pure necrotic energy.

The necrotic energy shot towards my Nightmare with amazing speed.

The energy collided with the Nightmare,tearing the soul of the long living beast into thousands of glimmering pieces.

I stared dumbfounded at the remains of the Nightmare.

I had finally conquered my final battle. I was finally going to become a necromancer!

"Well done Bloodwane,"called Devona once the gate opened.

"We decided to finally give you a break this year,seeing as you can't succeed at other tasks.

I merely nodded my head,still in shock over my victory. As well as Devona tried to hide it it,her smirk had subsided from her face,now showing a grimace.

She had truly thought the beast would fell the student,but he killed it without immense damage.

One thing that I came to discover just recently was the other tests didn't involve the animation of corpses.

It turns out I had a knack for the magic of death,unbeknown to me.

"In light of your suprising victory,I have decided to assign you to Kasha Blackblood as a mentor." I attempted to suppress a sigh of agony.

I had heard through the grapevine that Kasha was the hardest necromancer trainer,and no student had passed from her in years.  
The only students that had learned enough from Kasha turned insane,creating an evil twisted gang,raving over blood magic.

They named themselves for their blood obsession,the blood fanatics.

"Quit your whining Bloodwane,"sneered Devona.

"No one is ever as tough a mentor as me,and they never will."

This was a true statement,Devona was indeed the hardest of all academy trainers to be paired with.

She had a rough facial tone,and huge muscles showing her immense amount of strength.

She showed no interest in beauty and her wild blond hair flow loosely. I paled in comparison to this figure of triumph.

I had an always sullen face,with my little black hair flowing in a spike,hanging limply like a blade of thin grass.

"You are to report to Kasha on the 5th day of the coming week. Except no mercy,as you shall receive none from Kasha."

I sighed,this was not the thing I had in mind when going into this art.

I had no wish to become corrupted and evil like so many of Kasha's followers.

However,this was many very last chance to become the necromancer that I always wanted to be.


	2. Ascalon City

_Author's Note:Please R&R, positive critiscm/flames/questions/suggestions are welcome._

After my amazing victory over the Nightmare creature, what I felt was complete exhaustion.

I made my way to Ascalon City at a slow saunter, and didn't even notice a figure approach me from behind.

"Hey! Xavier!" called a friendly voice. I turned my head over my shoulder, and saw my friend, Rohan coming from behind.

Rohan was a warrior, he passed his test the first year at the academy, where I suffered my first loss.

Rohan had a strong physique, a hardened thin face, short brown hair in a buzz cut, and never stopped smiling.

Rohan was one of those people who could turn the worst of situations into a enjoyable test of strength.

I was the total complete opposite of Rohan though. I was thin, lightly muscled, and had one long spike of hair, flowing sloppily over my forehead.

I wasn't exactly Mr. Optimist either; no I lost cheerfulness a few years ago after my third defeat in the academy.

"Hey Rohan, any news on the Charr front?" I asked. Rohan was an intel agent for Captain Osric on the border of the Charr territory.

"No Xavier, they seem to be biding time for some reason, but that just gives us more time to enjoy the lovely day!"

It was true, it was in the early evening, and the sun was lightly shining on the autumn trees.

Rohan and I walked in silence for some time, winding down the path to the Ascalon City gates, taking in the beautiful scenery.

"So..." said Rohan. _"Here it comes,"_I thought. "How did you do on the test in Nolani?"

He said this all nonchalantly, trying not to seem too inquisitive. I looked up from the path and turned my attention at Rohan.

"Well Rohan," I started slowly to build suspense. "I suppose it was gonna happen sooner or later."

Rohan's already happy face grew into a huge toothy smile. "I knew you could do it!" he nearly yelled.

Rohan went to embrace me, and lifted me straight off the ground. "Good job Xavier!" he would say every couple moments.

Eventually, I began to struggle from Rohan's grip, and he released me, still beaming with pride.

"It wasn't much," I said in a modest voice. The truth was though, that this was the happiest I had felt in years.

"Xavier you gotta tell me everything that happened!" Rohan demanded. So I told him, about the Nightmare creature I was assigned, how I used bone horror's, parasites, and pure energy to defeat it.

Then how Devona had, out of resentment, assigned me to be tutored by Kasha Blackblood. About how she thought Kasha was too weak with her students.

I completed my tale just as we reached the long flowing river, signaling a short walk to Ascalon. "She assigned you Kasha Blackblood? Isn't she known for her corrupted students?" said Rohan.

I nodded, showing I had done enough talking, and Rohan fell silent. We approached the wall, which provided a barrier from the Lakeside county and Ascalon city.

The gate was open, so we hurried through, into the bustling city inside, as the gate wasn't usually unattendded.

The city was alive with activity, vendors on every street corner; they sold things from, animal furs, to long swords.

Each house had a similar feel to it, each had it's own intricate pattern, painted in the same rustic brown color.

To the northeast was the border of the city, and the cave in which creatures such as the Grawl, plus the occasional Charr, were kept captive for training purposes.

To the far east, rich nobleman lived in their wealth, buying property all over Ascalon. To the west, the majority of the stores sold goods such as food, and clothing.

To the immediate north, houses were most abundant there, and weapon traders, and armor merchants.

Rohan and I turned west toward the main alley of the city. After my victory Rohan promised me a lavish dinner to celebrate.

We passed the city's herb shop, where people were cured of ailments by nature ingredients. We finally reached the fancy diner, named Lysaa's Diner, where a wide array of exotic food were prepared.

I ordered a common dish, but my favorite dinner of all time, the Moa Bird special; Rohan ordered the Kappa salad, an exotic food from Cantha.

These types of stores were run by nobleman, and were extremely expensive, especially the foods such as kappa.

After a delicious meal, they left the diner and made way to their apartment, in which they were roommates.

"Thanks for dinner Rohan! You really didn't have to pay for it..." said Xavier regretfully.

"Nonsense Xavier,"replied Rohan was a smile. "I glad you finally passed that exam is all!"

They made their way past the weapons vendor, who kept insisting to sell them a Great Axe; (You need one of these to survive in the world out there!)

Past the local fur trader, who nodded politely as they passed, slightly frowning at me. Then past a dark alley way, where kids not even the age of 15 were smoking weed.

Finally they reached their apartment, where Mr. Osbourne, the evil watchmen, scowled as they entered the doors.

"Why hello you two, especially you Xavier, you'll never amount to anything!" I was too tired to say anything back, so I just groaned as we entered the apartment.

Without another word to Rohan I fled up the staircase, and entered our room. I removed my heavy, jet black armor, and replaced it with silky pajama's, jet black, matching the armor.

I made my way to bed, which had looked like nobody ever bothered to buy a new pair of sheets, and I never did.

It was filthy, and Rohan disproved of me sleeping in it, but I didn't care, I had my own little sty of a bed.

As soon as my head hit the pillow, I fell into a deep sleep, where I relived the Nightmare battle, but only I had failed.

Everyone in Ascalon City were pointing and laughing, and I was curled in a ball trying to avoid their gaze.

I woke up in the middle of the night, and said quietly, "Oh well...tomorrow will be better." Then he fell back asleep, with not a Nightmare to disturb him.


End file.
